The Reasons : The Crusades And The Salem Witch Trials

Abigail Williams is to be considered a strikingly beautiful young woman. She was the cause of the whole madness of witch-craft by her immaturity because Abigail and with the rest of her friends went out into the woods while having Tituba conjure spirits so the girls could get guys to fall in love with them. Once they were caught by Reverend Parris (which is Abigail's uncle) instead of confessing the truth on what they were doing and owning up to it, Abigail decides to blame Tituba. She blames her for making the girls go into the woods to conjure spirits and help the devil. When John Proctor hears about this though, she quickly tells him in private that its nothing but lie. She wants John Proctor to see her as a women but when she cannot even own

1. Throughout The Crucible, the theme of mass hysteria is presented. For example, after Tituba “confessed” to have been working under pressure, Abigail screams “I want the light of God, I want the sweet love of Jesus! I danced for the Devil; I saw him, I wrote in his book; I go back to Jesus; I kiss His hand. I saw Sarah Good with the Devil! I saw Goody Osburn with the Devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil!” (54) The reason why Abigail suddenly “confesses” starts with Tituba. Tituba was under extreme pressure when Reverend Hale and many others were screaming at her; therefore she decided to just give them what they want – a confession – so they would stop. Seeing this, Abigail joins in that she will not be interrogated later, thus adding to the overall hysteria and madness of a witch hunt. In addition, the theme of vengeance is also displayed when John Proctor blatantly states “I'll tell you what's walking Salem - vengeance is walking Salem… now the little crazy children are jangling the keys of the kingdom,

She first appears in The Crucible in Act I. She and her uncle, Reverend Parris, are treating her cousin Betty who is asleep and will not wake up. Parris believes that Abigail conjured spirits in the woods with Betty, and that is why she is asleep. At the end of Act I Abigail is accused of witchcraft, and she immediately shifts the blame to Tituba, who confesses so she can avoid being hanged. Abigail and Tituba then start naming many others of the community who they claim to have seen with the devil. While doing so Abigail states that she “wants the light of God and the sweet love of Jesus” ( Miller 1234). Since Abigail is so young, she is perceived as being sincere when saying she wants more of the Christian faith in her life. However, her willingness to lie and blame others in order to save herself is what makes her very hypocritical. In many times throughout the play Abigail merely put on a show to try to convince others of her lies. She may seem like a pure person at heart, but the motivations behind her actions tell otherwise. Later in Act III, Abigail lies to Judge Hawthorne even after he tells her that “to God every soul is precious and His vengeance is terrible on them that take life without cause” ( Miller 1258). Abigail still continues to break the ninth commandment of not lying, even though she seems like she is telling the

One reason why Abigail is responsible for the death of innocent Salemites is because she makes up lies and stories about the people involved in the witchcraft. “Sometimes I wake and find myself standing in the open doorway and not a stich on my body. I always hear her laughing in my sleep. I hear her singing her Barbados songs and tempting me with-” (Miller, 156). In this quote Abigail is talking about Tituba, the slave of Mr. and Mrs. Proctor, to Mr. Danforth. She made up a story about Tituba putting her under a spell and doing things to her at night. Abigail is also the first person to accuse someone of

A play written by Arthur Miller is about The Salem Witch Trials. The character who basically caused and is responsible for The Salem Witch Trials is girl named Abigail; “Abigail Williams, seventeen, a striking beautiful girl, an orphan, with an endless capacity for dissembling. ”page 462. Abigail is absolutely responsible for the salem witch trials. Even though she lives in the victimizing puritan society and does not deserve to be excused.

Abigail also accuses innocent people of doing witchcraft. She uses the Salem Witch Trials to put out all the resentment she has toward everyone. Abigail takes advantage of the society’s communitarian values for her own selfish interest. Abigail contradicts the society’s beliefs of community through manipulation.

Apart from being obsessive Abigail is also shown as a dishonest person. When reverend Hale comes to the town of salem to visit Betty and see if the devil had been affecting her. When Hale gets to the house he starts to accuse Abigail of using witchcraft while they were out in the woods. “She made me do it! She made Betty do it!” (44). After Abigail sees that Hale is accusing her of working with the devil, she gets the idea of blaming Tituba for the events of the woods. TItuba claims that Abigail had drank the chicken blood so blaming Tituba seemed better than getting in trouble for doing it in the first

Abigail Williams is introduced as an innocent seventeen-year-old girl who was mistreated by the male figure. Since she has an affair with John Proctor, a thirty two year old married man, she becomes manipulative and power hungry. Her thought process and actions are driven by the jealousy she has over Elizabeth. The first occurrence of Abigail’s abuse of power is near the end of Act 1 regarding the activities being done in the woods. Abigail knows the dancing around the caldron is no longer a secret after her uncle Reverend Parris saw them “Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now”(10). Soon after Abigail is questioned about the so-called dancing that occurred in the woods. When Reverend Hale arrives he starts questioning everybody and the answers make her look bad. She starts putting all the blame on Tituba by saying “I never called him! Tituba, Tituba . . .” Reverend Hale responds in shock” She called the Devil” (42). Abigail realizes if you confess to witchcraft and start-naming names you’ll be okay, if you deny it they will think you are trying to

Between February of 1692 and May of 1963 in Salem, Massachusetts, approximately 200 citizens were accused, arrested, and imprisoned for being suspected of acts of witchcraft. Of the 200, fourteen women and five men were hanged at Gallows Hill near Salem Village, one man was stoned to death while more than seventeen died in prison. It all began in 1691 when a few girls in town began experimenting with magic by surrounding themselves around a crystal ball in order to find an answer to a question. During June and September of the year 1692, hundreds of citizens were wrongfully executed after illogical trails found them guilty of acts of witchcraft. These trials occurred because of religious imatations, tainted food supply, property disputes, congregational feuds and young immature girls lacking attention.

We see Abigail have this characteristics many times throughout the book and many of these lies cause deaths. When they first getted blamed for witchcraft she says, “I never call him Tituba, Tituba....” Here she tries to act innocent and blame it all on tituba even though she is the one to ask for the the potion. There was absolutely no witchcraft involved in what they did yet she blames witchcraft on her. This causes more problems because tituba then confesses to something she didn't do and starts blaming more people in town who are innocent in order to save her. Once tituba confessed she saw an opportunity to blame people she didn't like so she says, “I danced for the Devil”, even though she never did. Once she said that she had the ability to blame people she “saw” with the devil. This causes deaths because many innocent people don't confess to witchcraft because they did nothing wrong. Since she was also sort of the leader many girls followed her lead and started blaming people her family didn't

In the book, "The Crucible," Abigail Williams, a seventeen year old who is caught taking part in witchery along with several other girls, begins claiming that she has seen many people with the Devil. As a result, the Salem witch trials take place and the lives of many people are taken. While one might say that Abigail was influenced to lie because of the pressure of society or outside forces, she had the choice in her hands to save the lives of many people, but instead she accused as many as she could. She did not care how many lives she took, as long as Elizabeth, the wife of John Proctor, who she desired to have, was killed. Taking this into consideration, Abigail was deliberate in her actions and therefore cannot be excused for her doings.

Abigail tells the Reverends that Tituba does the devil’s work and corrupts her at night. This accusation is one of many that Abigail states out of fear and panic. During the end of the story, Abigail becomes desperate to remain innocent and pin anyone who is against the girls’ story. This distress leads Abigail to accuse one of the reverends of witchcraft: “Quote”(Miller #). This claim backfires against Abigail and creates suspicion of her. The judge she informs tells Abigail that it is nearly impossible for that to be true. He is a man with God. *More Info here

Abigail begins to have authority over the other girls in the town of Salem. They follow her league in every lie that Abigail gets them caught up into. In Act I page 10, Abigail lies to Parris about what really happened in the woods and what he really saw. “Uncle, we did dance; let you tell them I confessed it and I’ll be whipped if I must be. But they’re speakin’ of witchcraft. Betty’s not witched.” She doesn’t state the real reason as to why they were in the woods to Parris and his suspicions raise up. Abigail is in total denial and somehow convinces Parris that he has mistaken what he saw. This raises up questions about witchcraft and the presence of the Devil, so Abigail starts with accusations with people in the town. From that moment

In Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, Abigail is most to blame for the Salem Witch Trials. Abigail is a seventeen year old girl in the town of Salem, Massachusetts. She lives with Reverend Parris, her uncle, because her parents were killed by Indians when she was younger. Miller demonstrated that it was Abigail’s flaws- dishonesty, jealousy, and lust – that led her to be most responsible for the witch hunt in Salem.

Fear is an integral part of human society, a vital part of human emotions, and can drive people to do certain things that they would hardly do when thinking clearly. Fear is the belief that something or someone is dangerous and poses as a threat, or the action of being afraid of something. This emotion is present throughout history, in literature, and still exists as of now. From the Salem Witch Trials to the Holocaust, fear was always an important factor. Even in present times, it is still a major influence for many events. Fear is the driving force behind the large number of accusations in The Crucible, the reason why people desperately seek for scapegoats in “Extended Forecast: Bloodshed”, and it causes defensive behavior and feeds hysteria